Lame Adventure 382: Big Apple Gay Pride Parade 2013

Sunday was the annual Gay Pride march in Manhattan. Milton and I attended with cameras in tow. It was an exuberant celebration on the heels of the Supreme Court’s recent decision overturning the Domestic Marriage Act as well as clearing the way for same sex couples to resume having the right to wed in California. The victorious DOMA plaintiff, 84-year-old Edie Windsor, was one of the parade’s three grand marshals. Seeing her was quite a high.

This is also a mayoral election year in New York City. Christine Quinn, the openly lesbian Speaker of the New York City Council, is a mayoral candidate who has recently received Edie’s endorsement. Quinn is leading in the polls today, but former Congressman Anthony Weiner is gaining on her and possibly Public Advocate Bill de Blasio has an outside chance, too. It’s a long way between June and November.

Aside from politicians avidly courting the LGBT voter, the parade was also heavy with product placement in hot pursuit of the LGBT dollar. Big corporations that participated include Delta Airlines, AT&T, Citibank and Coca Cola. Macy’s, Whole Foods and Kiehls had a strong presence, too. Vitamin Water had some poor schmuck or schmuck-ette dressed like a bottle of water march in the steam heat. Overall, the parade was primarily about LGBT people compelled to cheer their recent victories, strut their stuff and feel good about whom they are.

On a personal note, I am very pleased to announce that I experienced my own triumph this year. I did not suffer any further hearing loss, step in any fetid puddles or deep fry any body part, all mishaps I have suffered in past years while covering this annual event with Milton for Lame Adventures. Naturally, I half-expected to find myself swallowed by the sidewalk, but that didn’t happen, either. Therefore, I’ll let the pictures we shot tell the rest of the story.

Edie is a hero Heather. She fought for her rights, which thanks to this Supreme Court victory is now every LGBT person’s right. Her place in history is solid. As is Thea’s. The fact that Thea had to check out for progress to be made makes this victory so bittersweet.

There was a lot of electricity in the air, Frank — and plenty of glitter. Milton has to be relaxed to fire off his quips. Sitting inside a broadcast booth might activate his inner mute button,but I’m sure he’d love it if it were air conditioned.

It had to have been amazing to see Edie ! Wish we could have been there. So, so glad you met with no side-walk swallowing mishap. And, goodness, that woman with the big boobs! Don’t even know where to go with that! What an amazing week it’s been, right! Sara and I can believe we are now legally married in the eyes of the federal government! Miss you!
:Hugs,
Kathy

It was indeed a thrill to see Edie, who looked like she was basking in the well-earned glory of her recent victory, Kathy. I wish I was able to get a better image, but it never fails, but she had a significant entourage and I only had a split second to snap a picture. That was such a challenge since my camera’s shutter speed is slightly slower than that of snail.

It is very cool to know that now your marriage is valid in the eyes of federal law.

Glad you enjoyed the post Tania! Milton and I put a lot of effort in the images, but we were not as shutter bug crazy as were last year when we shot more then 2,000 pictures combined. We thought our heads would explode looking through all those shots. I truly anticipated coughing and out might pop a feather. This year, we cut it back to about 900 combined. That’s restraint Lame Adventures-style.

Wow. Love the colors and the expressiveness. I feel as if I was there, enjoying the show in air conditioning, thankfully. Yes, Milton would make the perfect TV parade commentator. Kudos to Edie Windsor, never giving up.

I suspect that the gotcha shot is Milton’s most loathed image of all. In it, I’m grimacing because I very likely missed a great shot either a fraction of a second too soon or too late. He’s looking pensive as he prepares to fire off another quip. My vote for commentator would go to Harvey Fierstein or Paul Rudnick. I’d love to watch it from home with those guys giving play by play.

Yay!! I remember the 2011 parade – that was a few weeks after the marriage equality act in NY (as I’m sure you know) – and a few guys in wedding dresses on a float got me a little teary – I expect this parade was even more emotionally intense. I’m glad you enjoyed it (safely!), and thanks for the pictures!
As a side note, your birdbrain guy is a Coney Island staple – I didn’t know he was a pride parade regular too!

Wow, thanks for the factoid about the birdbrain guy. If Milton and I ever head over to Coney Island and see him, we’ll feel like Pride was stalking us. We’ve covered the parade every year that I’ve been writing Lame Adventures. This is year four if anyone is wondering how long my blog has been around. If you’re curious, here’s 2011’s Pride post: http://wp.me/pMku1-Vy. That was a jubilant year as well.

Ha! Good observation. Some years they’ve had stilt walkers, but we didn’t see any this year. Even more impressive than those that can walk in high heels without looking like they’re about to topple, is the pole dancer that can balance upside down on a pole as her partner bike rides them through the parade.

I work right down the street from the capital building in Austin, so the tension has been fairly palpable here, what with Wendy Davis’ filibuster followed closely by the SCOTUS decision. Your pix of the parade reminded me of the many of the things I miss about NYC (though not living there!). I have a feeling that local politicians would never march in the local pride parade, although, if courting a vote, I wouldn’t put it past them to swallow what passes for pride among them. Thanks, lame, for the memories!

As you know Jeremy, Pride in NYC is HUGE since the Stonewall riots happened here. It sounds like there are plenty of politicians in Texas that would love to turn back the hands of time. But I do think that eventually progress will even catch up with them, whether they like it or not. I’m glad you enjoyed the post. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

Thanks Cathy. That gotcha shot is further proof that Milton and I were there amongst the multitude viewing from the sidelines. It was estimated that attendance was somewhere between 200,000 and 300,000.

In much of the western world, pride marches are spreading, but I think it will be quite a while before there is such an event in the middle east, China, most of Africa, etc. But yeah, progress is spreading and that’s a great thing.

Great photo tour from our mild-manner journalist. I’m disappointed that you didn’t make like Clark Kent and burst out of a phone booth (or porta-potty) wearing a mask and rainbow cape. The world needs more lesbian super heroes and fewer Anthony Weiners.

I’ve been to the Manchester and London Pride marches, LA… so I’ll now pretend that I’ve been to New York as well! Good photos and commentary, by the way.
Also, good to hear of your mini triumphs so far… long may they continue!

I bet those Pride marches across the pond are extremely colorful, too, Tom. Glad you enjoyed the post. I am a bit amazed that I did not encounter any personal foible this time, but maybe I got that over earlier in the week when I brutally bruised a pinky toe miss-stepping into my bathtub.

Thanks for posting all these great pics! I’d love to catch that parade some time, but for now this will satisfy my need to see. Glad you didn’t suffer any injuries for the sake of jounalism. I’ve read that it’s not necessarily healthy to wear a bra all the time, and perhaps the woman in your photos read the same thing and interpreted differently!

I’m glad this post provided you with a glimpse of what gay pride was like in New York this year, Terri. Milton arrived before me so he saw The Braless One first. I was a tad concerned that if she turned quickly left or right someone near her might get toppled. Of course, Milton and I were always at the ready to shout, “Duck!”

It looks like seriously good times. I’m doing pretty well. It’s been a long week and it’s only Tuesday, but overall life is good. How are you doing? I hope you’re as happy as this post made me, which is very.

Glad to hear that you’re doing pretty well. Awwwwww, that’s great that this post made you happy! On the happy-o-meter over here, it’s been a pretty steady 8 – 8.5, but when I get too hot, it does dip to about a 2. I hate the heat when it gets too hot.

Considering how many professional photographers covering the march stopped and photographed her Maggie, I think attention had a lot to do with letting it all hang out. We were rather amused by the apple lady-guy.